1776. A similar document was presented to Capt. Cook at Oonalashka, but he returned it, with some presents; knowing that these letters must have been left by some Russian Commander, with directions to put them on board the next Russian ship that might pass. Other natives met with in canoes, were observed to imitate European politeness, and one of them had on some European clothes.
In approaching to Oonalashka, on the 26th, our voyagers had escaped imminent danger; they had cast anchor, on hearing the sound of breakers, in a fog; and when it cleared away, the perils through which they had passed were discovered. "Two elevated rocks," says the Captain, "were about half a league each from us, and about the same distance from each other. There were several breakers about them; and yet Providence had, in the dark, conducted the ships through, between these rocks, which I should not have ventured in a clear day; and to such an anchoring place, that I could not have chosen a better." A point of land adjacent, is aptly termed Cape Providence.
The inhabitants of Oonalashka and the neighbouring islands, like those of Prince William's Sound, resemble the Esquimaux and Greenlanders, both in their persons, their dress, and their canoes; while their manners are somewhat polished, through their intercourse with the Russians. They wear ornaments in their ears and nose, and some have them also in their lips. They usually take their fish and other food raw; although the Russians have taught them the use of pots and kettles, which a few of them possess. Their houses are oblong pits, sunk in the ground,
